History

We Change Neighborhoods!

In 1991, shortly after Howard Cosell was broadcasted live during the Yankees World Series to proclaim that the Bronx was burning, Jeffrey Levine worked with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development through the Vacant Building Program to rehabilitate burned down shells of multiple buildings to create 600 units of affordable housing at multiple locations in the South Bronx. These projects were the building blocks of a now flourishing community. Not long after President Carter vowed to rebuild the Bronx on Charlotte Street, Levine Builders built approximately 230 homes through the NYC Housing Partnership’s New Homes Programs.

Douglaston Development and Levine Builders have always worked to provide quality housing for all New Yorkers. Early projects, including the Porter Avenue Homeless Shelter in Brooklyn, the Union Plaza Nursing home, Atria Senior Quarters at Kew Gardens and Riverdale, APEX housing in Long Island, the School of Visual Arts dormitories in Manhattan, and the High Point at Douglaston demonstrated a commitment to providing a diverse range of housing, including market rate, affordable, senior, special needs, and student rental housing as well as condominiums.

Douglaston Development was proud to work with New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York City Housing Development Corporation, and the New York City Housing Partnership through the Alliance for Neighborhood Commerce, Homeownership and Revitalization (ANCHOR) program on developing and constructing the City’s first large scale low equity co-op, The Renaissance located on 116th Street in central Harlem in 2001. This project revitalized the area and it’s success of this project served as a market comp for lenders, enabling them to justify ongoing investments into the Central Harlem community for home ownership.

Levine Builders was an early pioneer in the transformation of the Meatpacking District through its participation in the creation of the world renowned Gansevoort Hotel. The hotel serves as an early example of the future of the neighborhood, which is now a staple for New Yorkers and tourists.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, 90 West Street, the landmarked commercial building designed by distinguished architect Cast Gilbert in 1906, was structurally and cosmetically damaged by the falling debris of the collapsing World Trade Center. Levine Builders brought the building’s facade back to its original splendor and repositioned the asset from an office building into vitally needed housing in the Financial District.

As a true pioneer in the neighborhood, Douglaston Development built the 36-story, 386- unit Ohm in 2010. In anticipation of the 7 Subway line extension, the High Line, and the Hudson Yards project, the Ohm, with stunning water views, served as the first high rise residential project in what has become the true future of Manhattan.

After working with the City Planning Commission to rezone the derelict Williamsburg waterfront, Douglaston Development began work in 2007 to construct a mixed used project with luxury housing, affordable housing, retail, and parking, including a water front esplanade park and piers with ferry landings. As the great recession gripped our nation, this 2,000 unit, multi-phased project became the anchor of the evolution of Williamsburg into a flourishing residential and commercial destination.

Maintaining our commitment to the Bronx, Douglaston Development embarked on a 3-phase 425-unit affordable housing complex nearly 30 years after first building large scale, transformative housing in the Bronx. Since 2011, Douglaston Development has worked with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Housing Development Corporation to develop low and median income housing, with two phases of the project already housing residents and the final phase and spacious public plaza to open in 2018. The project also includes community benefits such as Universal Pre-K, the Foundling child services, and a 20,000 square foot public plaza.